Rob and I were inspired to create and sustain Voices of the Violet Crown as we worked alongside neighbors to raise funds for the mosaic Wall of Welcome in Austin, beginning in 2003. VVC aims to foster understanding and participation, beginning right where we live, by showing how community and history are interwoven.

Our blog, beginning in 2011 with the post Meet the Starmaker: Bill Williamson of Crestview. Our website also includes features, films, photos, and community resources (right sidebar) and more information about our project (top menu).

Our community/history exhibits, featured at the Violet Crown Festival, 2003-2010 and 2012; Violet Crown Arts Festival, 2008-2009; Wall of Welcome dedication, 2008; Crestview Neighborhood Association Ice Cream Social, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2016; and Crestview United Methodist Church 60th anniversary, 2013. A corporate sponsor of the Violet Crown Festival described our exhibits as “the centerpiece of the event”; neighbors called them “the heart of the festival.”

Our oral historiesof neighbors ages 6 through 90. Our website and films include video clips, quotes, stills, and transcripts. We donated copies of interview DVDs, transcripts, and films to the Austin History Center.

In 2003, a group of us in Brentwood and Crestview created the Violet Crown Festival and the nonprofit Violet Crown Community Works to help build and sustain community by supporting neighborhood enhancement projects, beginning with the mosaic Wall of Welcome on Woodrow Avenue in Austin. Rob and I volunteered at the festival for seven years; I served on the VCCW board for four years. (This website reflects my experiences and research and may not represent other neighbors’ or groups’ views.—Susan)

Like many other neighbors, Rob and I created a mosaic for the Wall of Welcome (above), and he created one for the popular nearby restaurant Little Deli.

Another inspiration for Voices of the Violet Crown is visionary writer, farmer, and activist Wendell Berry. We feature his words in the right sidebar and in the title of this blog post, “History Overflows Time,” from his novel Jayber Crow.

And, we continue to be inspired by our neighbors, through their words—and all the ways they make a difference, right where we live.

A community is the heart and soul of a city.—Hedrich Michaelsen, Crestview

The most important thing about being a good neighbor is to be aware of the way we feed one another, the way we celebrate with one another, the way we help one another grow—thinking about neighbor as family. —Wendy LeBlanc-Arbuckle, Brentwood

Somebody before us planted these trees, and it’s up to us to do the same, so there will be trees here for the next generation.—Emily Wilson, Friends of Brentwood Park

Thanks, as always, for visiting our website! We’ve added a bit of “new” history of our neighborhood for 2016 and beyond, below, with links, for anyone who’d like to learn more.

January 27 • Friends of Brentwood Park, established in 2009, adds info about the park’s memorial trees and benches to its website.

February 29 • Arlan’s Market opens in the space that housed Crestview Minimax IGA for 63 years in Crestview Shopping Center. Since then, Arlan’s has continued Minimax’s longtime tradition of supporting community events.

April 3 • The TLC program “Who Do You Think You Are?” reveals the connection between actress Aisha Tyler, who is black, and her third-great-grandfather John Hancock, an Austin lawyer, district judge, and state legislator who once owned land that became Brentwood, Crestview, Allandale, and Rosedale and was white.

May 7 • Violet Crown Festival, Brentwood Elementary, the 14th spring event since 2003 (13 festivals and the Wall of Welcome dedication, held March 2008, so no spring festival that year) coordinated by Violet Crown Community Works, a local nonprofit that helps build and sustain community in Brentwood and Crestview by supporting neighborhood enhancement projects.

May 15 • Welcome Party for Top Drawer in Crestview Shopping Center, the thrift store’s second location. Proceeds of the two stores benefit Project Transitions, also in the center.

June 18 • Grand Opening, Dia’s Market, 812 Justin Lane. Later in the year, it holds several community events, including a holiday craft workshop for kids on November 26 and market holiday festival on December 10.

December 21-25 • Luminarias on Arroyo Seco—a 23-year tradition—begins 12/21 with a Holiday Mingle in Crestview and continues in Brentwood 12/22-25.

2017

February 28 • Crestview Pharmacy, owned by the Harper family and in the same shopping center location for more than 50 years, closes. According to the former owners, a new business is planned for the space.

April 30 • Feeling grateful to our longtime good neighbor Billie Herron for planting and caring for a majestic magnolia tree that provided beauty and shade to our Crestview street for more than 60 years. On this quiet Sunday morning, after several days of high winds, without warning the tree is uprooted and falls, narrowly missing a house, car, and neighbor working under it. In true Crestview-neighborhood style, people gather to trim and clear limbs and brush, visit with Billie and give her a hug, clip and share remaining flowers (including the one at left), and be sure the tree was stabilized. The bulk of it rested on two massive elbow-like limbs until it could be cut down and cleared away later that day and the next.

July 21 • Craig Ray Cherico, 59, step-grandson of original Crestview developer Ray Yates, passes away. Craig lived in the Yates home on the southeast corner of Woodrow and Yates for many years. He was a good neighbor and well loved by family, friends, and co-workers.

September 30 • James (Jim) Bauer, husband of Frances (Mickey) Bauer, passes away. Jim and Mickey are among the people we interviewed for our Voices of the Violet Crown project. Except for a few months, they have lived in our area for more than 60 years; Mickey moved here with her family originally in 1936, to a farm facing today’s Burnet Lane. Jim and Mickey are among the original members of St. Louis Catholic Church.

November 4 • Friends of Brentwood Park holds another successful It’s My Park Day, as part of a citywide service project to maintain and enhance Austin parks. FOBP, formed in Summer 2009, participated in its first IMPD in our neighborhood park in Spring 2010.

December 22 • Tommy Cockrell retires after almost 55 years as a barber at Cockrell’s Barber Shop in the Violet Crown Shopping Center on the northwest corner of North Lamar and Brentwood St. (We hear he’s cutting hair in Georgetown these days, as of June 2018.)

December 27 • David Glenn Cooke Jr., 93, passes away. We interviewed his wife, Louise Cooke, for our Voices of the Violet Crown oral history project. They were charter members of Crestview United Methodist Church. Their son Robert William Cooke died in 2014, and their granddaughter Rachel Cooke disappeared near Georgetown, Texas, in 2002 and has never been found.

2018

February • Kristin Mitchener shares with Voices of the Violet Crown memories of original Brentwood neighbors Gladstone and Erna Swenson, who were her great-grandparents. We feature her stories here (toward the bottom of the page).

May 28 • Original Crestview neighbor Emory Emil Wilhelm Muehlbrad, 92, dies. He was a longtime member of Faith Lutheran Church in Brentwood, a World War II veteran, father of four, and foster father to hundreds more. You can read more about him on our website here and here (under Faith Lutheran) and view videos featuring him and his wife Wanda here, here, and here.We interviewed Emory and Wanda on February 8, 2008; a DVD copy of their videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center. Emory and Wanda also appear in our film A Community Mosaic.

June 12 • Another original Crestview neighbor, Eva Mae Waggoner (known to neighbors as Mae), 92, dies. She and her husband helped plant and care for the original sycamore trees in Brentwood Park beginning in in the early 1950s. Well into her 80s, she visited the park and the Violet Crown Festival when it was held there beginning in 2003. You can read more about her on our website here; her obituary is here.NeighborNancy Schuler interviewed Mae in 2005.

July 29 • Longtime Brentwood neighborhood restaurant Frisco Shop closes July 29. It first opened in 1953 at 5819 Burnet Road, south of Koenig, then on the northern edge of town, and moved in 2008 to its final location at 6801 Burnet Road, formerly a Curra’s Grill. In April 1959, founder Harry Akins became the first white restaurateur in Austin to serve blacks in his restaurants; Harry also served as Austin mayor from 1967 to 1969. Frisco was the last of four original Night Hawk chain of restaurants in Austin, the first of which opened in 1932 at Riverside and Congress. At one time, there also were two in San Antonio and one in Houston. Read more about the Frisco here, in the July 20, 2018, Austin American-Statesman article by Michael Barnes. Another article, by Virginia B. Wood, appeared in the Austin Chronicle in 2001.

August • The Brentwood Neighborhood Association features an article about Emory Muehlbrad and Mae Waggoner, “In Memoriam,” in its August 2018 issue.

November 15 • Preservation Austin asks Voices of the Violet Crown about the source of the name “Ryan” in Ryan Planting Strip along Ryan Avenue in Crestview. We found that likely the park and the street were named for George L. Ryan, who worked in the A. B. Beddow real estate agency at least from 1947 to 1949. A. B. Beddow and Ray Yates began developing Crestview, from Justin Lane north to Anderson Lane, in 1947. There also are streets in Crestview named for Beddow’s wife (Justin Lane), Ray Yates (Yates Avenue), and the Richcreek family (Richcreek Road), whose farm became Crestview. The Ryan Planting Strip, at less than a quarter of an acre, is one of Austin’s tiniest parks. It is owned by the Austin Parks and Recreation Department.

Austinites Kenneth Threadgill and Roger Beck shared a deep connection to our neighborhood, as well as a long friendship and dedication to Texas music. In 1933, Threadgill’s opened on the Dallas Highway north of the Austin city limits. Today, that address is 6416 North Lamar in the Brentwood neighborhood. Owner Kenneth Threadgill loved music. He sang, danced, and learned to yodel as a young man, inspired by music legend Jimmie Rodgers. For more than 40 … Read more

On February 29, 2016, a new grocery store, Arlan’s, opened in the space that was the longtime home of Crestview Minimax IGA. Minimax (and Crestview Food Mart before it) was owned by the Prellop family—beginning with Herb Prellop, right—and part of Crestview Shopping Center for 63 years. It was the last Minimax IGA store in Austin. In 2014, Minimax was named Critics Best Neighborhood Grocery Store by the Austin Chronicle, the store’s third such award … Read more

Final blog post in this series, in which we introduce a few special neighbors-in-history who have contributed to our sense of place here. (See links for more info.) ERNEST WALTER WUPPERMAN (1907-1986) owned a veterinary practice on today’s North Lamar, north of Old Koenig Lane, from 1941-1976. Veterinarians H. M. Spangler and his son S. C. Spangler bought the business from Dr. Wupperman in 1976, when he retired. For many years it was called the … Read more

The second in a three-part series, in which we introduce a few special neighbors-in-history. (See links for more information.) RUBIN HANCOCK (about 1835-1916) was one of Austin Judge John Hancock‘s former slaves. (More about John Hancock here.) Rubin—and possibly other members of his family, including brothers Orange, Salem, and Peyton—lived for a time on what is today the historic Moore-Hancock Homestead, at 4811 Sinclair Avenue in the Rosedale neighborhood of Austin. In the late 1930s, … Read more

As we researched the history of the neighborhood—in newspapers, abstracts of title, the census, various websites, oral history interviews, and many other sources—we discovered more special Austin neighbors who have contributed to our sense of place here. In the first in a three-part series, we introduce you to just a few of them. We provide links, whenever possible, for more information. SARAH WALTON PARMELE COOKE (1903-2009) lived in Crestview with her son Glenn and daughter-in-law … Read more

Our neighborhood history (up to this point anyway!) concludes . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2006 • November 10: Brentwood Elementary held its tenth annual Veterans Day celebration, at which students wearing America-themed hats created a living version of the 1812 American flag. Photos of it were featured in the Austin American-Statesman. (More info about neighborhood veterans here.) 2007 • April 21: The groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new North … Read more

Our neighborhood history continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 1962 • Burkhart’s Motor Dining opened on Burnet Road; it became Top Notch (left) in 1971. 1964 • J. D. Harper became the owner of Crestview Pharmacy. 1965 • Ronnie and the West Winds—featuring Ronnie Prellop of Crestview Minimax IGA—performed at IBEW Hall on South Congress in Austin. 1973 • The Chief Drive-in (right), which opened in 1946, was torn down so … Read more

Our neighborhood history continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 1945 • After World War II, more and more young families moved to Brentwood and Crestview, and the landscape began to change from mostly farmland and wide open spaces to neat rows of well-kept homes. (See our film A Community Mosaic for images from that time.) 1947 • Dirt excavator C. H. Lester helped dig a drainage channel in Hancock Creek, along … Read more

Our neighborhood history series continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 1881 • The Austin and Northwestern narrow gauge railroad—later Southern Pacific—was built between Austin and Burnet, through today’s Crestview and a stop called Abercrombie. EARLY 1890s • First known appearance in print of “City of the Violet Crown” to describe Austin. 1893 • Esperanza School, an early county school first built in 1866, moved to Upper Georgetown Road (today’s Burnet Road), … Read more

Welcome!

Since 2003, we've gathered stories of neighbors creating community, and we share them here. We believe that community is a continuum of past, present, and future and that being a good neighbor is a creative process—one that matters, whether you moved here in 1936 (as Mickey Bauer has) or just yesterday.—Susan & Rob Burneson, Austin, Texas

“A human community, if it is to last long, must exert a sort of centripetal force [moving toward the center], holding local soil and local memory in place. Practically speaking, human society has no work more important than this.”

—Wendell Berry

Copyright 2018 Susan Burneson.

All rights reserved. Kindly talk with usbefore reproducing any website content.
Thanks to artist Jean Graham for permission to use photos of the mosaic Wall of Welcome on our site.